Sony Sees Early Surge in Holiday Shopping

Black Friday and Cyber Monday kicked off the holiday shopping season, and according to Sony, it also underscored better-than-expected early holiday demand, particularly for its PlayStation 3 console.

"We saw a very positive sales increase television, computers, and PS3 in particular," Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer told a group of reporters today. "I don't think there were any negatives, but we need a little more time to find out how big it was."

The company has reason to be excited. After basically introducing the mobile music market some three decades ago with its Walkman, Sony has since faced stiff competition with South Korean rivals and a handful of U.S. IT firms. Apple's iPod now rules the portable music scene, and Samsung leads the way in the global flat screen television market.

Going forward, Sony sees an opportunity to turn things around by focusing on batteries.

"Don't forget we started lithium-ion batteries at Sony... If you produce the right battery, they will come," Stringer added. "It's worth putting our best engineers at it... It's worth a shot, I think."